After stealing a cassette tape, Mary develops a strange obsession with the music. Experiencing the danger associated with the tape, she flips to the B-side and discovers the dark fate of the previous owner.
This is the final Horror Short Sunday for 2025, and this time we’re taking a look at Mary’s Mixtape. A creepy horror short where a girl decides to steal a cassette tape, and finds that it includes the most euphoric music she’s ever heard. Problem is: listening to it proves to be quite dangerous…
Director: Sam Prim Writer: Sam Prim Country & year: UK, 2023 Actors: Jordan Carpenter, Lucilla Fell IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt32732368/
Emma is a little girl who lives with her parents, who are always arguing. Her mother tries to sneak Emma out of the house during the night, but their father stops them before leaving. Emma gets so distraught over their constant fighting, that she runs away and falls down the stairs. Luckily she doesn’t die from the fall, but she ends up in a coma and is trapped in a strange world. She can her hear mother speaking and singing to her in the hospital bed, and sometimes experience memories and the odd crossover moments, but she can’t find out how to wake up. Traveling through a surrealistic steampunk world she encounters both friends and foes, and is chased by a creature simply called Teeth, who feeds on her tears and seems to be hellbent on stopping her from leaving.
Moon Garden is a dark fantasy horror film from 2022, written and directed by Ryan Stevens Harris. It stars his young daughter Haven Lee Harris as Emma. And from the very early start of the movie, it’s easy to see that this is very much a passion project, filled with so much creativity and whimsical playfulness in what is obviously an allegorical take on childhood trauma. And holy moley, is this movie filled to the absolute brim with awesome practical effects, sometimes reminding me a bit of Phil Tippet’s Mad God and the dark fantasy vibes of Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. There’s so much creativity here, from the elaborate set designs, makeup effects, monster prosthetics and so on. There’s a mix of miniature usage, puppetry, and stop motion. CGI has been avoided to give the movie a better vintage-looking feel, and to be honest, if I hadn’t known beforehand that this is a movie from 2022, I wouldn’t have doubted even for a second if someone told me that it was a movie from the ’80’s. It was also intentionally shot on some old expired 35mm film which enhances the retro feel to the maximum. Visually, and creatively, I totally fell in love with it!
While the horror elements are somewhat subdued, as the movie relies more on the Alice in Wonderland-esque strangeness of a surreal world, they are quite effective when they first appear. It’s not just a fanciful adventure for the little girl, she does encounter some terrifying creatures and experiences. Emma (played by Haven Lee Harris, the director’s daughter) gives a surprisingly solid performance where I honestly wondered if she were genuinely terrified at times. Or at least a bit pissed about what her father was putting her through…there are a few scenes where she’s having this defiant bottom-lip pout expression, almost like she’s silently telling her father “you owe me a pony after this!“, but overall I think she looks back on the whole experience as a really fun one, though, as it also looked like she was having the time of her life.
While the movie includes many strange characters and creatures, my favorite by far is Teeth, the villain who tries to stop Emma from leaving and also feeds on her tears. Wearing a tophat and a long black coat, his face is nothing but a black hole in which he’s got a set of constantly clacking teeth (hence the name). Just like the wind-up teeth toys, just done in a horror fashion. He’s both a creative villain and also a nightmarish one, perfect in a dark fantasy film.
Moon Garden is a surreal, heartfelt and utterly strange and visual treat for those who love something a bit different. While I can’t say I have seen something very similar to this movie, I did get a little bit of the same vibe as from Mad God (2021) and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) as I earlier mentioned, but I could also feel a little bit of a Paperhouse (1988) flavor here, and of course many of the Alice in Wonderland adaptations. The movie is a beautiful surrealistic experience, one that requires a certain taste for the fever-dreamish vibe of the more fantasy-themed arthouse films.
Moon Garden is available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Oscilloscope Laboratories, and is available on several streaming sites, including Tubi.
Writer and director: Ryan Stevens Harris Country & year: USA, 2022 Actors: Augie Duke, Brionne Davis, Haven Lee Harris, Morgana Ignis, Maria Olsen, Timothy Lee DePriest, Phillip E. Walker, Angelica Ulloa, Téa Mckay, Joel Pelletier, Wolfgang Meyer IMDb:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18561446/
Bill is a family man who is about to fulfill the dream of his life: moving back to his ancestral family farm in Gudbrandsdalen in Norway. The problem is: he’s pretty much the only one who is very, very excited about this. The teenage daughter Nora feels like her life has fallen apart when being dragged from sunny California and over to cold desolated Norway. Carol, the stepmother, tries to keep an optimistic tone with her life coach visions, but it becomes apparent that she really struggles with keeping the smiles up for Bill’s sake. Lucas, the youngest son, tries to be more enthusiastic though. When exploring their new home and the surrounding area, he discovers something fantastic: there’s something in the barn! It’s a good ol’ classic “fjøsnisse“ as we call them here in Norway, or what a local man tells Lucas is a “barn elf“. These humanoid creatures comes with a set of rules: they hate modern changes, loud noises, and bright lights (feeding them after midnight is okay though, they aren’t gremlins). If you ignore those rules, there will be some horrible consequences, because you really, really do not want to make the barn elf angry!
There’s Something in the Barn is a Norwegian comedy horror film from 2023, directed by Magnus Martens and written by Aleksander Kirkwood Brown.
This is a movie that’s mixed with Norwegian folklore, combined with some comedic elements regarding some of our cultural oddities. And with a good dose of that bad English, of course. That cheesy, broken sing-song English that is the common Norwegian accent! (God, whenever I travel abroad I hate hearing my own voice when I speak English). And most of the Norwegian characters in this movie plays this up a bit, especially Henriette Steenstrup who plays the sheriff, and Calle Hellevang Larsen who plays the local barn-elf expert. And speaking of these so-called “barn elves“: this creature stems from very old Norwegian folklore predating the Christian times. Most of the original lore regarding these creatures have been included in the movie, like how they will become quite mischievous if you do not treat them well, however it was originally mostly enough to give them a big bowl of porridge and they’d be satisfied. They were never known for becoming dangerous, though. If dissatisfied with you, they were believed to do things like making noises to bother you, or let the animals in the barn out during the night. Otherwise, they were generally goodhearted and watched over the farm animals, and were especially friendly with the barn cat which most farmers would have to keep away rodents. However, since the filmmakers were making a gremlins-like horror movie, they did of course have to make the barn elves quite mean, with the exception of the “main“ elf which I guess is like the Gizmo of the movie. And yes, there’s no doubt that there’s a lot of inspiration from, and a homage to, the classic 1984 movie Gremlins which is also a holidays-themed movie.
Much of the humour is aimed at the total cultural differences between Norwegians and Americans, where especially the family father is trying his best to adapt. Both “sides“ are purposefully caricatured, and while I’m certain that there are a lot of the Norwegian references that won’t be properly understood when viewed by those abroad, the humour is still straightforward enough even for those who doesn’t know the slightest about Norway or Norwegian culture. The movie explains some of the things gradually through the eyes of the Americans who just moved there, so we see everything through their experience, and often through the experiences of the boy Lucas who first sees the barn elf. Despite Lucas trying to warn his family (no one believes him, of course) they piss the creature off by breaking the rules one by one. What a shocker. First of all, it’s the “bright lights“ rule when they put up all their Christmas holiday decorations, full-on American style (which means a lot of decorations). Then, in order to get to know their Norwegian neighbours better, they also decide to redecorate the barn and throw a party in there, because who knew: they only way to get a Norwegian out of their cold, hard shell is to get them shitfaced on alcohol! And yes, that’s a little bit too true, and as someone who doesn’t drink alcohol I’ve been frowned upon more than once for this choice, it’s like committing a total blasphemy around here. Well, anyway. All rules have been broken, and the barn elf is now majorly pissed off! There’s only one way to appease him…bringing him a big bowl of porridge. So Lucas, as the goodhearted boy he is, makes some and puts it in the fridge to serve the angry nissemann later…only to discover it has gotten eaten by his father. The only thing Lucas can give the barn elf now are the leftovers from a botched “Norwegian dinner“ attempt from earlier that day: the dish Lutefisk. Which, of course, breaks the final straw for the poor little barn elf and makes all hell break loose. Believe me, you’d be pissed too.
From here on, the movie takes a turn from a rather cozy one to bringing in the horror elements, where we get some kill counts and a bunch of violent and mean barn elves running around and wreaking havoc. It’s still too charming and fun to be scary in any kind of way with the goofy antics of the creatures, including them getting drunk after smashing the living room and having the family trapped in the upstairs bedroom. In between, we do get a little bit of forced family drama just to pack it in with some kind of “rediscovering togetherness during the holidays“ message, but it’s also slightly mocking this cliché a bit. While it’s a little sugar-coatey at times with the family dynamics, it kinda works in a premise like this. Never hated any of the characters, although I did root for the barn elves of course.
Visually, the cinematography offers up the beauty of a snowy winterlandscape, and it is jam-packed with Christmas vibes! Despite being a movie that’s featuring some very typical Norwegian scenery, it’s informed in the film’s trivia that half of it was shot on stages in Lithuania. There was also a limited snowfall during the shooting (so there goes that illusion of how Norway is always fully packed with snow) so they had to bring in snow by truckloads in order to accomplish the vision they needed.
Overall, There’s Something in the Barn is a fun gateway horror movie with a good amount of holiday charm. And as can be expected from such a goofy, lighthearted horror movie, it all ends on a good note despite all the mayhem. And it becomes good to be a nissemann, after all.
Happy Holidays and God Jul! Now remember to put out that bowl of porridge (julegrøt) for the nisse with a good portion of butter in the middle and some cinnamon spread atop! Just don’t serve him any Lutefisk…or you know what will happen.
Director: Magnus Martens Writers: Aleksander Kirkwood Brown, Josh Epstein, Kyle Rideout Country & year: Norway, 2023 Actors: Martin Starr, Amrita Acharia, Kiran Shah, Townes Bunner, Zoe Winther-Hansen, Calle Hellevang Larsen, Henriette Steenstrup, Jeppe Beck Laursen, Eldar Vågan and a horde of angry barn elfs IMDb:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23060796/
It’s Horror Short Sunday, and Christmas is getting close! So this time we’re taking a look at Labubu Christmas. If you haven’t heard about Labubu before, it’s those creepy-cute little monsters who have become insanely famous, selling like hotcakes (and getting fake copies called “Lafufu”). In this horror short, a naughty Labubu ruins a Christmas! And no, this shouldn’t be taken seriously for even a second.
Happy Holidays!
Director: Alex Magaña Writer: Jed Brian, Alex Magaña Country & year: USA, 2025 Actors: Jed Brian, Argishti Grigoryan, Sarah Hansen IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt39222616/
Alright, boys and girls, let’s do an experiment: What would happen if you ordered Barbarian from Temu, sorry, I meant Tubi? You get a Match made in Goofyland. Or, in other words: By going into this Tubi Original completely blind, without even having seen a single screenshot, and expecting the absolute bottom of the barrel, you’ll maybe have a pleasant surprise and have a fun schadenfreude time. And that should be my whole review for Match. So take care, thanks for stopping by, have a ghoulish night and happy Unholidays.
But if you’re still here, OK then…I’ve no better things to do either, so here we go: Here we meet the young woman, Paola, who’s searching for the sweet love via apps and whatever the kids are using today to communicate. After Paola has suffered through the one disastrous date after another, she finally finds a guy named Henry who matches her 93%. Well, if she thinks the previous dates were bad, she’s seen nothing yet. He even offers to serve her a home cooked meal on their date. What a true gentleman. Almost too good to be true.
There’s only one thing though — he has an autoimmune disease which makes him housebound. He also makes some bullshit COVID excuses for not wanting to go outside. Yeah, in the year of 2025. Paola’s sister, Maria, sees the red flags waving a mile away and begs her not to visit him alone at his home on the first date. So, it’s pretty clear early on that this is not the brightest final girl. But since love can be one helluva drug, she can’t resist. That home cooked meal must really be worth it.
After Paola arrives at Henry’s big upper-class house and rings the doorbell, she gets met by his mother, Lucille. Just the sight of her is another big red flag already. She’s ecstatic to meet her son’s date though, and invites Poala in to the point of no return. Poala gets drugged and wakes up strapped in a gurney as Lucille rolls her through some dark, decayed dim-lighted corridor filled with dead maggot-infested rats on mousetraps. Cozy. Again, that home-cooked meal must be something that would even give Gordon Ramsay an erection.
Speaking of erection… a terrified Paola gets rolled into a room where she finally gets to meat Henry (see what I did there?) but this is not the same Henry she’s chatted with. Huh. Instead, we have a morbid surprise that looks like if Sloth from The Goonies had a baby with Junior Gorg from Fraggle Rock while cosplaying as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. And he’s ready to fuck. Or just to quote Rammstein: You’ve got a pussy, I have a dick, So what’s the problem? Let’s do it quick.
And… I’m just gonna leave it here, because this absurd and sometimes icky horror comedy is just best watching without knowing anything about it, as mentioned earlier, even though how predictable it seems on paper.
What we also have here is an extremely sarcastic and welcoming commentary on the more and more delightful and soul-sucking online/smartphone society we live in ― filled with a sewer of apps (or digital cockroaches as I call it), mountains of uncanny face filters and future-faking that follows the most gullible NPCs all the way to their grave. And then we have the “shock values“ that includes a close-up with a monsterdick and a… mousetrap. What an interesting combination. I bet that Johnny Knoxville can relate.
And for those who got seriously traumatized after seeing a penis for the first time on the big silver screen in 28 Years Later earlier this year, this one will probably ruin your Christmas. Just a friendly warning.
But jokes aside, cuz this is so over the top and silly to almost a Looney Tunes level, that could as well be something straight from an average Troma film. The film gets more and more unhinged as it goes on with absurd, twisted dark humor with lots of lols, WTF-moments and questionable logic, while the main actress Humberly González seems to do the best she can to take this satirical clown show seriously. The film knows exactly what it is though, and so does Dianne Simpson, who plays the deranged Lucille, with a big dose of zany energy. The big star here (no pun intended) is of course the lover boy himself, the fake Henry, played by Jacques Adriaanse, buried under tons of layers with old school prosthetic makeup. And I’d bet there was a whole mini series of bloopers during the shooting. Not the best film of the year, but a surprisingly fun one with some eccentric charm.
Director: Danishka Esterhazy Writers: Al Kaplan, Jon Kaplan Country & year: South Africa, 2025 Actors: Humberly González, Shaeane Jimenez, Dianne Simpson, Jacques Adriaanse, Luke Volker, Nikita Faber, Dean Goldblum, Peter Butler IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt37436190/
Hairmetal, blood, freezing titties, avalanche in the snowy hills that have eyes, and a dude that looks like George Lucas. Here we go!
This obscure little odd The Hills Have Eyes ripoff from söta bror Sweden starts off with some mean drunk guy who, one late night, comes home to beat his wife and four kids. And this is not the first time as the wife finally has had enough and stabs him to death with a kitchen knife. The wife takes the kids with her as they run away into the thick ’80s movie fog.
Then we jump to forty years later in the year of 1985 where a random narrator says: For the next 40 years, the family hid out in the middle of nowhere. Now, intruders are on their way. Uuhm…ok. We’re at the snowy mountains in Sweden where the glam rock band, Solid Gold, are about to shoot some scenes for a music video. And what’s the title of this song? Take a guess.
― ♪ The horror you fear, You can’t let it go, It’s already there, You’re all much too slow, BLOOD TRAAACKS..!♫
And if a hair metal band with stagefright could cause an avalanche, I’d bet that Motörhead would cause Mount Everest to collapse like a house of cards. And as the title suggests, there are no blood tracks to be seen here, at least not in the snow. A couple who has some sex in a volvo gets snowed in. The woman eventually gets pulled out, buck naked. Brrr! I’m gonna freeze my tits off! So, now that the scenes have been wrapped up, what’s next? The band, roadcrew and the groupies take shelter in a cabin. The soundguy from the filmcrew goes for an exploration where he enters a big abandoned factory. And in that place lives the mother and the group of children we saw at the beginning, who’s ready to kill anyone who dares to enter. The mother hasn’t aged a day during the four decades though. She must have some great genes, like a certain Sweeney. Couldn’t say the same thing about some of her kids, who looks like pizza-faced mutants from Tromaville. As the soundguy goes missing, the rest of the crew starts looking for him, which eventually leads them, one by one, into the factory to be bodycounted. So there you have it. A dumb premise for a dumb formulaic slasher which we have seen a thousand times already, even in 1985. But fun dumb, at that.
Blood Tracks, or Blodspår, is written and directed by Mats Helge Olsson, Sweden’s answer to Claudio Fragasso/Bruno Mattei, if you will ― the same guy who made The Ninja Mission(1984), Russian Terminator (1989) aka The Russian Ninja and Spökligan (1987), a very early childhood favorite of mine. And just like some of his other films, this one is dubbed to English by some wooden legs. It’s not as fun/bad as some of the films mentioned, but you’ll have your chuckles.
Solid Gold is played by the Swedish band Easy Action, and if you expect them to be the heroes, last boys standing cuz you can’t kill rock n’ roll, you’d be disappointed. The band members are barely acting here though. They’re mostly shoved in the background where they get drunk on whisky as alcohol was a demand to have on set because of nervousness… or because that’s just rock n’ roll, baby! Some of them were lucky enough to shoot some quick sex scenes, where I wouldn’t be too surprised if they were so wasted and coked-up that they, at some point, thought they were in a porn film. Nu ska vi knulla! Oh, well. The little we hear of the themesong could be a catchy fat ’80s earworm which was never fully recorded to be released to one of the albums, like Dokken’s Dream Warriors or Alice Cooper’s The Man Behind the Mask, since they seem to be more ashamed to be a part of this film. Boohoo…
And yeah, we have some fun kills here, which includes a severed head, bodies impaled on spikes, a bitten-out eyeball, death by fire, a woman getting sliced in half, some cheesy bear-hugging wrestling fights, and more. Fun fluffy drunk ’80s schlock from start to finish. And of course, then we have the bizarre George Lucas-lookalike, as if he was still location scouting for the Hoth scenes. Wrong country, bud. Blood Tracks is available on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome/DiabolikDVD. Even though I don’t have a copy, as for now, it’s fair to mention that there have been some angry complaints about the audio on that release, so… just be aware. And if you follow the right blood tracks on Tubi, you may also be lucky.
Director: Mats Helge Olsson Writers: Mats Helge Olsson, Anna Wolf Country & year: Sweden/UK, 1985 Actors: Jeff Harding, Michael Fitzpatrick, Naomi Kaneda, Brad Powell, Peter Merrill, Harriet Robinson, Tina Shaw, Frances Kelly, Karina Lee, Helena Jacks IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088827/
When a workaholic city detective and her laid-back partner try to stop a dishevelled girl staggering down the middle of a country road, they discover she’s being stalked by some unseen entity with a horrifying ultimatum: you stop moving, you die.
Another Horror Short Sunday, and this time we’re taking a look at Stop Dead. A creepy horror short where the only chance of survival is to keep moving!
Director: Emily Greenwood Writer: David Scullion Country & year: UK, 2023 Actors: Priya Blackburn, David Ricardo-Pearce, Sarah Soetaert, James Swanton IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt20768872/
We start off with some strange voodoo ritual of some kind, where a couple seems to be participating in a ritual involving their son. What the purpose of this ritual is remains to be discovered, as we quickly go further ahead in time, where we meet Cal Jamison. He is a psychologist who seems to live a perfect and happy life together with his wife Lisa and their young son Chris. Until he and their son both witness her gruesome death by an everyday object, Final Destination-style. After this traumatizing incident, he relocates with his son to New York City where he starts working as a police psychologist. And he quickly gets busy with work, as the city has been plagued by what appears to be some occult and ritualistic murders, involving the deaths of young children. A policeman named Tom Lopez is in total hysteria mode when he claims that the ones behind the murders has gotten their hands on his badge, a personal item which he thinks might give them power over him and make terrible things happen.Cal is, of course, called to examine the superstitious and terrified policeman, but he soon finds out that there really is some nasty occult shit happening around here by some kind of Hispanic cult. And what’s worse…it’s all getting way too close to both him and his son.
The Believers is a neo-noir thriller horror film directed by John Schlesinger with screenplay by Mark Frost. It is based on a novel by Nicholas Conde from 1982, called The Religion.
Even though Hollywood seemed to have lost interest in Satanic-themed horror movies after the 70’s (which gave hits like The Exorcist and The Omen), there was still the Satanic Panic in full bloom where people literally thought there were ritualistic murders and abuse all over the place. While this movie does not portray the hysteria over those conspiracies of Satanic ritual abuse, it’s still a movie that came at a time when these (unfounded) fears were the real shit. And just mix it in with some kind of Caribbean voodoo religion instead, and with the classic message of how wealthy “yuppies“ would be willing to call upon dark forces in order to achieve even more wealth, then you have a typical occult film about sacrifices and evil people committing to evil gods.
Already from the get-go, you realize that this isn’t going to be one of those easy happy-going movies. The opening with Lisa’s death comes quite unexpected, with what was initially such a feelgood happy moment. I was wondering if this was something the movie would pull off more often, lulling you into a sense of peace while whamming you with some unexpected death or horrific event. And to be honest, while nothing similar happens later on, the movie does manage to surprise you a little bit with some of the upcoming events. There’s several characters that we are getting introduced to, which keeps us guessing as to what their intentions are. The power this cult seems to have over everyone carries a little bit of the “curse“ formula in horror movies, where once you’ve been touched by it, you’re doomed. And they don’t need much in order to make you suffer, it’s enough for them to get their hands on a personal items of yours, and you’ll suddenly be having snakes slithering around in your guts. Yes, literally. While this movie is by no means any kind of bloody gorefest, there are some nasty scenes here and there. My favorite is the one that involves a hexed makeup powder puff. Ugh!
There is a bit of slow pacing here and there, but nothing serious as it quickly picks it up again. Some of the drama between father and son does come off as a little bit much at times and I didn’t really care much for it, but that’s just my opinion. Overall the movie manages to keep you engaged throughout, despite a runtime of nearly two hours. And one thing I really liked was how the movie often used shots from obvious lower class suburban areas, giving it a more realistic feel in regards to how one could imagine a Santeria cult operating in the outskirts.
The Believers could have been much more gritty and dark than it is, and it often appeared that it wished to be without really hitting that mark. Still, it’s an entertaining supernatural thriller, which fits well in with the Satanic Panic of the 80’s.
Fun fact: the film influenced the “Narcosatanist“ cult leader Adolfo Constanzo (Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo) who ran a drug-smuggling cult in Mexico that practiced human sacrifice. Apparently, the movie was used to indoctrinate new followers.
Director: John Schlesinger Writer: Mark Frost Country & year: USA, 1987 Actors: Martin Sheen, Helen Shaver, Harley Cross, Robert Loggia, Elizabeth Wilson, Harris Yulin, Lee Richardson, Richard Masur, Carla Pinza, Jimmy Smits, Raúl Dávila, Malick Bowens IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt0092632/
The year is 1979, and Anne and Paul Sacchetti are grieving their deceased son Bobby who died in a car crash. They have decided to start afresh by moving to a new home in rural New England, and while Anne seems to be in a near catatonic state on the way to their new place, Paul hopes that her spiraling into a deep depression might lift with some new scenery and a new house. Well…her spirits are in fact quickly uplifted once they get to their new home, but not for the reasons Paul had hoped. Anne claims that Bobby’s presence can be felt in the house, and this eases her grief a bit. After barely having settled in, they also get a visit from two elderly neighbors who comes inside and immediately tells them about the house’s sinister past. It used to be a funeral home, run by the Dagmar family until it was discovered that they had been swindling their customers by selling the corpses of their deceased family members and burying empty caskets. Then, as the elderly couple are about to leave, the man tells them how good it is that they’re here, and how the house “needs a new family“. And upon leaving, the woman gives them a note where she warns them by having written “get out“ in big capital letters. Hmm…a little mixed messaging here, for sure.
Anyway, Anne doesn’t really give a shit about any of the things that happened in the house earlier, her only focus is on her dearest son Bobby. She’s convinced that he’s there, and she invites her friends May and Jacob who are both spiritualists. Paul scoffs at the entire thing, but promises to keep an open mind for her sake. And then…things go bad. And it appears it’s not only the house that carries secrets around here.
We Are Still Here is a supernatural horror film from 2015, written and directed by Ted Geoghegan. He began working on the film as some kind of tribute to The House by the Cemetery (1981) by Lucio Fulci. He had also previously worked with Andreas Schnaas on some of his various low-budget schlocky gore movies as both writer and producer, but We Are Still Here is his directorial debut. After completing the script, Dark Sky Films and Snowfort Pictures agreed to produce it. The filming took place on February 7th, 2014, in Rochester New York where they used the villages of Palmyra and Shortsville.
And yes, I can see how Geoghegan had a Lucio Fulci vibe in mind here, where it’s got the blood and gore (not the maggots though), the isolated house, someone troubled and grieving, the clairvoyant character, a town with secrets, mixed with some Lovecraftian ideas. And yes, there’s more than enough easter eggs to behold here: first of all, the Sacchetti couple is most likely a reference to the screenwriter Dardano Sachetti who worked a lot with Lucio Fulci. Then we have the name of the town, Aylesbury, which is a reference to Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror. The Miskatonic River is also mentioned during the credits.
While the movie does play into several of the typical haunted house tropes, it’s still a solid experience which balances an intriguing plot and a sinister atmosphere throughout. Some scenes manage to be a little creepy, despite never really going into full-on scares but more leaning towards a creeping notion of something sinister at play. I love the retro style of it, and enjoyed the homages. This is not merely a haunted house/ghost story, it’s playing it a lot darker and venturing into a bit of folk horror as well. And when we get to the ending, and the climax itself, then whoa…! It’s like his old buddy Andreas Schnaas jumped onboard and demanded mehr Blut und mehr Tod!, as we get a crazy, bloody gorefest! It’s vicious and cruel, and a delight to behold which gives the movie a nice little pang of an ending.
We Are Still Here is a pretty nice retro haunted house flick set in the cold winter time, perfect to watch now that the weather is cold and it’s good to stay inside, preferably with a cup of warm cocoa and a horror movie on display.
Writer and director: Ted Geoghegan Country & year: USA, 2015 Actors: Andrew Sensenig, Barbara Crampton, Larry Fessenden, Lisa Marie, Monte Markham, Susan Gibney, Michael Patrick Nicholson, Kelsea Dakota, Guy Gan, Elissa Dowling, Zorah Burress IMDb:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3520418/
An astral traveler and a detective risk everything to save a child from the clutches of a rogue demon.
Horror Short Sunday is here again, and this time we’re taking a look at Terror by Night. A fun horror short with some nice atmosphere, a “the further”-ish world, and ghoulish demons!
Director: Dean Butler Writer: Dean Butler Country & year: Australia, 2024 Actors: Dean Butler, Gemma Cavoli, Andressa Lemos, Samuel Wertheim IMDb:www.imdb.com/title/tt27787900/
